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Old 29-06-2018, 12:57 PM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
kids+wife+scopes=happyman

mental4astro is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
Posts: 5,002
If the Moon was clear and sharp, it is odd that Mars and Jupiter would be just a fuzzy blob, regardless of collimation.

Surrounding flood lights wouldn't be the issue either.

Would be more the case of poor seeing affecting the image. "Seeing" is the thermal currents in the atmosphere, and if these are very active, then the more magnification that you use the more the image degrades, and yes, then Mars and Jupiter can appear as fuzzy blobs. Especially using a 6mm eyepiece. Because the Moon is a really big object, more of it will "focus" than a small little blob that is a planet.

When you looked at the Moon, did you notice the image shimmering? This shimmering is the tell-tale sign of poor seeing. With good seeing conditions, the image is tack sharp and does not shimmer or go in and out of focus.

If seeing conditions are poor, the only thing you can do is drop the magnification. If you really want to up the magnification, you will just need to wait for a few hours in the hope that things improve, or try again another night. Seeing can change very quickly, one moment being brilliant, and then it's gone to crap in an instant. And seeing can be different in different directions of the sky too - it isn't necessarily uniform as air currents can also travel in bands, not as one blanket.

Collimation, while important, won't change your ability to get the scope to focus. If the scope is out of collimation, you will see a distortion in the image, like it is smeared in one direction, but one part of the image will still be sharp, and not a uniform blob. By all means, take your time to learn to collimate your scope, but there is a whole lot more to viewing through a scope than collimation.

Seeing conditions also don't give a damn about how big your scope is or its quality. Seeing is the one Universal limiter of how much magnification you can use on a given night. Actually, the larger the aperture, the more susceptible it is to the effects of seeing.

Oh, and be patient! The image the planets throw up is low in contrast, so you will need to let your eyes adjust and re-learn how to view under these astro conditions. If you are impatient, then yes things can appear as a featureless blob. Jupiter demands patience to see more than the two equatorial bands, and the Great Red Spot too needs a patient eye, and it needs to be visible too as you won't see it if is behind the planet. Martian features are really difficult to spot. Rush things with Mars and you won't see anything.

BE PATIENT!

Also, Mars right now is experiencing a global dust storm! The whole planet surface is totally featureless right now!!! This is VERY important to be made aware of, and I'm sure a lot of people will be viewing Mars right now and be really, REALLY disappointed as they have no idea that Mars is stuffed right now. But that's what happens every now and then on Mars. NASA is actually very concerned for one of its rovers as this dust storm may deposit so much dust on the solar panels to make it inoperative.

Alex.

Last edited by mental4astro; 29-06-2018 at 01:08 PM.
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